In
a bid to avoid further disruption of services in state owned hospitals
in Lagos, the state government said it has begun to recruit new doctors
to replace currently employed Doctors who are on strike.Doctors in Lagos state under the aegis of the Medical Guild are for the second time this month, on strike. They had earlier gone on a three-day warning strike between April 11th to 13th 2011 to press home their demand for payment of the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure, CONMESS.
The on-going strike, however, is indefinite and has crippled medical activities at government owned hospitals around the state putting the lives of thousands of residents who require medical care at this time at risk.
This is not the first time there is a grievance between striking doctors and their employers, the Lagos State Government. In fact, these two groups have been at loggerheads quite often over the past few years which has resulted in a few strike actions.
The plan by the Lagos state government to recruit new doctors to replace the striking ones has further emphasized the rift between the two parties.
According to Punch, the Chairman, Lagos State Medical Advisory Committee to the State Governor, Dr. Ore Falomo, says the government has begun to recruit new doctors to replace the striking ones.
He said the measure was to avoid future disruption of services in the state’s hospitals.
Falomo, who spoke at a news conference by the committee in Lagos accused the doctors of using strike as a perennial tool to express their dissatisfaction at the expense of the lives of the patients.
“More than a quarter of the new doctors are being recruited to replace those on strike and NYSC medical doctors should be assigned to emergency services,” he said.
He further said that the striking doctors had violated the Hippocratic Oath that guides the medical profession. For him, the oath states that a doctor must avoid the death of patients irrespective of their grievances or socio-economic status and also finish every medical procedure they have started on any patient.
Falomo, whose committee consists of elderly doctors of the medical profession in the country, enjoined the state government to put in place measures that would prevent future strikes by doctors without proper consultations.
He advised that as a disciplinary measure, the salaries of striking doctors should be withheld while doctors on active duty should be compensated.
He also called on specialists on ground to take care of emergency surgical procedures.
If the Lagos state government succeeds in putting new doctors in the hospitals to replace the striking ones, what then happens to the striking doctors? Will they lose their jobs?
What do you think about the move by the Lagos state government to replace striking doctors with new ones? And what do you think about Falomo’s statement that the doctors have violated the Hippocratic Oath that guides the medical profession?
This is dummy text. It is not meant to be read. Accordingly, it is difficult to figure out when to end it. But then, this is dummy text. It is not meant to be read. Period.
ConversionConversion EmoticonEmoticon